It's about the health, stupid.

So here's what I was planning to write about today:
My calendar.

Why?  Because it's just one of the many things that has helped motivate me, keep me on track, and kept me going over the last ... 46 weeks (that info also from my calendar).  Why did I think it was worth writing about?  Well, I was thinking this morning about how much I like the ability to color-code things (yes, I like office supply stores, too), and using my calendar is just one more thing that has helped me.  Last spring/summer and part of the fall*, I walked with my neighbor almost every morning.  So I decided to put it into my calendar as a recurring event.  Basically, every morning at 6:30, it said "Walk with Rachel." And we did.  Then one day I put a Wednesday night yoga class in the calendar, too.  And I realized it shouldn't actually be the default lavender that many of my events were.  I needed a color for HEALTH!  And so began the "greening" of my calendar.  My 6:30 weekday appointment with my neighbor?  GREEN.  My sporadic yoga classes?  GREEN.  So when I made a doctor's appointment, or anything that had to do with my health, I made it GREEN.  Now those things on my calendar were no longer "exercise;" they were "health appointments!"

I don't know if that helps you or not, but honestly?  It helped me.  And I'll take all the help I can get.  Do you like checking things off?  Putting them in lists?  Filling in blanks on your calendar?  If you like doing any of those things in the rest of your life, I bet you'd like doing them for working out, too.  Go ahead -- prove me wrong :)

And so on my way to my mammogram (appoint in GREEN) this morning, I thought I'd write a bit about how using my calendar in this way actually became motivational.


Except that once I got into my smock and 3/4 of the way through the appointment, the fire alarm went off, and that became much more interesting :)  So yeah, the fire alarm went off while I was having a mammogram (which is almost as funny as the time I was rear-ended on the way to a root canal).  And I'll just leave you with how I looked today at 185 pounds, and how I looked at the last appointment, at 195 pounds (I had a mid-year checkup checkup in there), because I keep saying I'm going to post progress photos.

195 lbs.

185 lbs.

*My neighbor had a baby in September, so our walking schedule -- together -- is pretty random now.  It's no longer on the calendar, but that's ok because working out is now an ingrained part of my life.  Which was the whole point to begin with.